


That Looks Upon the Tempest

by lawsofchaos



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Alec Lightwood is That Nice Thing, Alternate Universe - Mob, Dom/sub Undertones, M/M, Magnus Bane Deserves Nice Things, Mob Boss Magnus Bane, Police Officer Alec Lightwood, implied semi-public sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:28:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23343967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lawsofchaos/pseuds/lawsofchaos
Summary: “I don’t suppose you have room for two at this table?”Magnus’ heart stops at that rough, familiar voice. Alec is breathtaking, his warden’s uniform just as gorgeous on his lean form as his officer’s uniform, and Magnus suddenly has no doubts as to who has prepared this prison for him, full of allies and friends and small comforts he’d never thought to expect.Slouching, his arms resting irreverently on the table and legs spread wide, Magnus tilts his head up to meet his husband's adoring gaze, the plastic and metal table Magnus’ throne.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 74
Kudos: 557





	That Looks Upon the Tempest

**Author's Note:**

> My usual approach to non-AU writing in Shadowhunters is 'timeline what timeline,' and my approach to AU writing is apparently 'reality what reality.' Take that as you will.

Magnus loves his husband with a devoted fervor he'd thought Asmodeus’ upbringing had rendered him incapable of ever feeling. Alec’s warm skin under his hands is salvation, Alec’s heartbeat in his ears often the only thing that will soothe him.

Alec, in turn, loves Magnus with the kind of adoring worship he’d convinced himself he could never experience. His husband’s quick laugh and unyielding devotion is a miracle that Alec can only sometimes convince himself he deserves. (And when he can’t believe, it’s okay because Magnus will press him into their bed and whisper hymns of praise and fidelity and reverence into his skin until he does.)

Magnus often wonders what trickster deity brought he and Alec together; him, the head of New York’s most powerful criminal organization, and Alec, a highly ranked officer in the NYPD’s narcotics division.

If Magnus’ organization had ever touched the drug trade, he has no doubt he would already be in prison with a life sentence for his crimes, Alec an absolute bulldog in tracking down the men and women spewing poison onto the streets, killing sons and daughters and brothers and sisters and moms and dads without discrimination. Magnus, however, grew up at Asmodeus’ knee watching the destruction and pain caused by such horrors. His mother had killed herself because of Asmodeus’ drugs.

When Asmodeus had died at Magnus’ hand years later, Magnus dealt swiftly and brutally with those pieces of his father’s empire. It was that merciless, systematic elimination that had first brought Magnus to a certain Detective Alec Lightwood’s attention.

Alec had guessed who Magnus was almost instantly, of course. Magnus’ husband was clever and perceptive, putting together the most disparate pieces of information and forming conclusions Magnus marveled at for their accuracy and sharpness. He’d seen what Magnus was doing and he’d disapproved, harshly, of Magnus’ methods, but Asmodeus’ drugs had almost killed his beloved sister and so he’d stayed silent.

Alec and Magnus meet at first so that Magnus can give Alec the bits and pieces of insider knowledge he needs to take down the drug rings _not_ under Magnus’ new domain. Stealthy meetings in alleys turn into long meetings over coffee and then over dinner, and then it just makes more sense for Alec to come over to Magnus’ loft.

Seven years later and Magnus still delights in Alec’s blush when he calls his husband a mob wife.

For all the delightful bashfulness, Magnus’ trusted echelons are used to Alec’s presence at their boss’ side, their absolute trust in each other knowing no boundaries. Alec has strict morals, although they don’t always align with the law, and Magnus’ organization cleans up not just the drug operations, but a few other things here and there, things Magnus has always hated and Alec’s presence gives him the courage to address.

Magnus cleans up his city and his people are fanatically loyal in return. Magnus takes care of them and their families, and while what they do is certainly illegal, there’s also a certain Robin Hood mentality among his crews. Their actions rarely skirt over the line into truly immoral.

Everyone _knows_ who took over Asmodeus’ organization, although they certainly can’t prove it, but seven years later and there is not one whisper of Alec to anyone who doesn’t belong to Magnus. 

When Magnus is finally caught, it’s for a non-violent felony. He almost wishes it was tax evasion if only for the laughs, but his taxes are perfect and they catch him for felony fraud. (Forged loan documents to keep homes from being foreclosed back to the bank, of all things.)They can’t prove it, can’t even hint at it in court, but they know exactly who they’re prosecuting.

The judge gives him the maximum sentence even though he is decried in public opinion (“Judge Jails Hero Who Saves Single Mother from Homelessness!”) and Magnus will spend three years at a maximum security prison upstate.

They’ve talked about this before, he and Alec, and Magnus forbid his husband to come to see him if he was ever caught, terrified at the repercussions for his police officer husband. Magnus will rule whatever prison he’s sent to, but Magnus knows that for all his power and for all the promises of certain destruction for harming what is _his_ , it would only take one person not to care if Alec is jailed instead.

Alec obeys him until the last day of the trial when Magnus catches a single glance of his uniformed husband in the hall leading to the courtroom.

It’s three years though, just three years, and he hopes beyond measure that Alec won’t do anything ~~to risk himself~~ stupid. Alec is Captain of the Narcotics Division now, a good life and enough work to keep him busy even without Magnus there to hold him and love him and keep him. Magnus trusts his people and they’ll keep Alec safe for him, not that Alec needs it. (The boss’s husband kicking their ass during training is a right of passage in Magnus’ organization.)

He can last three years without Alec in his arms if it means a lifetime with him later. He can.

(If Magnus repeats it enough, maybe he’ll believe it.)

—————————————————

Alec stays away from Magnus’ trial like he promised, mostly, though he’s unable to resist a glimpse in the hallway the day before his husband goes back to holding for the last time. Three years.

Alec can’t last three years without Magnus in his arms. He can’t.

He talks with his brother that night in the West Harlem apartment Jace shares with his fiancé, Clary.

Jace has been with Magnus’ Director of Community Relations for four years now, and Alec and Magnus have enjoyed watching their relationship bloom (even if the beginning had been fiery to say the least). He talks to Izzy next, at her apartment in Brooklyn, and then he calls Max, in his first year of grad school upstate.

Izzy and Jace are unsurprised at his plans and fully supportive - Clary thinks it’s adorably romantic and Alec brazenly ignores her like he hasn’t since they first met. Max is elated to learn he was right about what Magnus really does for a living, and is beyond pleased to play a role, if only by proxy, in Alec’s plan.

Alec meets with the Police Commissioner in her office the next morning, spinning a softly grieved tale about his little brother’s recent car accident. The accident is true enough, and though Max had been in the hospital for several terrifying days, he came through his surgeries with flying colors. He’s been remarkably chipper with the whole thing, adjusting to the pins and braces in his shattered left leg with a kind of humor that defies explanation. (The Magnet Incident is never again to be spoken of in the mixed Lightwood-Bane-Wayland household.)

The Police Commissioner is sadly understanding, offering him whatever he needs as Alec weaves his story of filial duty and obligation. His little brother needs someone present, needs someone with regular hours and a job that doesn’t frequently take him out on the streets. His brother lives upstate, he murmurs mournfully, and Alec can’t ask him to come to the city and give up the support network that’s gotten him as far as it has.

He doesn’t want to leave the department, he tells her dolefully, but maybe a transfer? Just for a few years, two or three at the most?

The Police Commissioner sighs, sorry to lose him, flipping through records- the only thing in that town besides Max’s college is a prison. He wouldn’t be interested in being a warden would he?

Alec tilts his head, a mimicry of consideration.

He smiles.

—————————————————

When Alec arrives at his new post, the federal prison system is still operating at its usual glacial crawl and Magnus’ transport is due in three weeks. Alec moves as fast as he dares. 

Magnus’ people are too good to get caught often, and rarely is there enough evidence to convict, but his organization is sprawling and their core presence in the city is just the tip of a global operation. With thousands answering to his husband, there are always some number in prison and Alec discretely ensures that every single one ends up in Ward 3.

Ward 3 becomes the gathering place for all the names Raphael and Clary feed him, names Alec rarely recognizes, but all names he’s assured are fanatically loyal. When Jace shows up a week later, the Police Commissioner all too sympathetic when Jace says he can’t stand being apart from his family in such trying times, Alec delegates charge of Ward 3 with a smile.

Jace is a part of Magnus’ organization in a way that Alec has never been. After that first purge at Magnus’ coronation, his husband’s work has never crossed Alec’s desk. Magnus may whisper some misbegotten information in his ear sometimes, a hint of who Alec should keep an eye on, but their work is separate.

Magnus had never even considered asking Alec’s brother, a detective in Major Crimes, to twist the law around to help him, but Jace has never needed an invitation to do what he wants. He’s not on Magnus’ pay role, but he’s Magnus’ nonetheless.

A trickle of transfer requests cross Alec’s desk, guards for Ward 3, and he signs every one. These faces he recognizes, though the names on the papers aren't the ones by which he knows them.

—————————————————

Magnus saunters through intake with a casual smirk and an imperious tilt to his chin.

He’s been in isolation since the trial (and hadn’t that gone over well with the papers?), so he doesn’t know who’s prepared this prison for his arrival, but prepared it most certainly is. The guards are polite and familiar, and there’s a straight razor and a stick of eyeliner in the wash cloth they hand him with an almost deferential nod.

He takes his time, cutting his hair and putting on his warpaint, feeling refreshed even in the denim jumpsuit they give him, somehow perfectly sized.

The most familiar of the guards walk him to his cell, a victory lap down halls lined in friendly faces. The hall they take him to, Ward 3, is lined with two person cells down each side. Magnus is alone in the first cell on the right, and he’s pleased beyond measure as he watches each of his ward mates parade past him with respectful acknowledgments.

He doesn’t know how his people have managed what they have, but this ward, his home for the next few years, belongs to him in its entirety, guards and prisoners alike.

Magnus knows he didn’t have anyone high enough in the prison system to do _this_ when he was caught, but he barely has time to consider the implications before the guards come back to escort them to the ward cafeteria.

There’s a table reserved for him, center front, and Magnus waits there with his tray, the first in line, until those around him are seated. No one eats until he does, and Magnus revels in the comfort that he won’t have to watch his back, won’t have to fight his way to the top here, alone and isolated from his people.

(The judge had hated Magnus with a palpable intensity and Magnus had half-expected to be placed in a ward filled with his enemies alone.)

When the door at his back slides open at the close of dinner and every prisoner stands up, one of the guards shouting “Warden on the floor!” Magnus frowns. His people aren’t exactly known for respecting authority and if this warden thinks he can get Magnus to just fall in line, whether by threats or by force, well.

Magnus doesn’t move an inch, deliberately casual as precise footsteps come to a stop directly behind him. He tenses imperceptibly, prepared to defend himself if this bastard thinks _Magnus_ will kowtow to _him_.

“I don’t suppose you have room for two at this table?”

And Magnus’ heart stops at that rough, familiar voice. He can’t even breathe for a long moment before he purposefully loosens every bit of tension in his muscles and twists himself around to face his husband in an arrogant, insouciant sprawl.

Alec is breathtaking, his warden’s uniform just as gorgeous on his lean form as his officer’s uniform, and Magnus suddenly has no doubts as to who has prepared this place for him, full of allies and friends and small comforts he’d never thought to expect. Magnus swallows, just as smitten as the day they met.

Slouching, his arms resting irreverently on the table and legs spread wide, Magnus tilts his head up to meet Alec’s adoring gaze, the plastic and metal table Magnus’ throne.

It’s been six months since Magnus has touched his husband and his fingers are burning and itching with need. He forces himself to stillness though; Alec so rarely indulges Magnus in his love for dramatics, it would be remiss for him to waste the opportunity Alec has so thoughtfully provided.

A smirk curves Magnus’ lips. “And what, exactly, is the warden willing to do for the _honor_ of sitting at my table, hmm?”

The room around them is silent, watching the two interact with bated breath. Everyone who has worked with or for Magnus knows he’s married, but relatively few know to whom, and even fewer know Alec’s face.

Alec just ignores everything that isn’t Magnus for a long moment, the whispers around them growing louder when he does nothing. Prison staff aren't generally known for their tolerance of backtalk, and the smirks of those few who _know_ stretch wider.

Alec doesn’t speak for a long moment, cataloguing every piece of Magnus, from his carefully manicured nails to the swirling designs he’s carefully shaved into his undercut with the illegal razor, drinking in the sight he’s missed for so long.

Once he’s looked his fill, Alec remains silent and simply sinks to his knees between Magnus’ denim-clad thighs in answer to his flippant question, Alec’s gaze locked with Magnus’ own for every inch he drops. 

Magnus’ heart clenches at the familiar sight and he moves almost involuntarily to cup Alec’s face in a tender hand, his husband closing his eyes to nuzzle deeper into the touch.

Alec turns his head to the side and lays a single, reverent kiss on Magnus’ palm.

Magnus blinks back a sudden surge of wonder and joy at the unexpected miracle of having Alec here, of all places, openly in his hold. He brings his other hand around to cup the back of Alec’s head, tangling his fingers tightly in the dark strands.

Leaning down to press his forehead tightly against the familiar creases in the brow below his, Magnus’ voice has to be pushed out through the tightness squeezing his throat. “Hello, husband-mine.”

Alec’s voice is equally rough in response and Magnus knows if he opened his eyes, there would be tears in the hazel depths. “I’ve missed you, Magnus.”

Magnus can’t stop himself any longer, his husband warm and real in his arms, and he shifts the hand caressing Alec’s cheek to wrap under his chin, tilting it up at a harsh angle while tightening his grip on Alec’s hair to pull his husband’s head back.

He captures Alec’s lips under his own, licking into his mouth to deepen their connection, hungry to make any distance between them disappear. Magnus would crawl under Alec’s skin if he could; Alec is _his_ and these last months without Alec’s presence at his side and under his hands have been maddening.

Magnus is lost in the taste and feel of his husband around him, barely hearing the wolf whistles echoing from tile walls. Alec ends up in Magnus’ lap between one moment and the next, straddling his widespread knees and arching desperately against him when Magnus pulls Alec’s shirt from his belt and scrapes his nails down Alec’s back.

Alec’s lips are swollen and there’s already a purple-black bruise coming up in the hollow of his throat when he pulls back, taking Magnus’ face between his hands.

He doesn’t bother being quiet, the few people who knew Alec’s face spreading the word in delight. The warden is their boss’s _husband._

“Take me to bed, Magnus. I need to feel you inside of me.”

Magnus’ breath catches in a sudden surge of desire. He stands suddenly, surprising Alec into gasping and wrapping his legs firmly around Magnus’ waist, but he holds on tightly, trusting. Alec has always loved it when Magnus shows off his strength, blanketing him in comforting weight and manhandling him, maneuvering him however Magnus wants him in bed.

Alec just smiles softly when Magnus makes no move to put him down, raising a single elegant brow at the closed doors around them.

“Jace is in the control room,” Alec offers in response to the silent question before tucking his head into Magnus’ neck, lapping at Magnus’ pulse-point with gentle licks and intermingled wet kisses that make his heart race.

Magnus moves as swiftly as he can while carrying his precious burden, and the cafeteria door opens into the ward hall with no hesitation the moment he approaches it. Magnus glances up at the nearest camera in thanks.

The walk to Magnus’ cell is short enough that he doesn’t need to put Alec down before he lowers his husband gently to the freshly sheeted mattress. Alec stares up at Magnus in guileless pleasure and Magnus is overcome with how much he loves this man, this man who has moved heaven and earth, done the _impossible,_ to be here in front of him right now.

He knows they need to talk, but nothing feels more important right now than gently stripping Alec of every piece of clothing he wears and re-memorizing the body laid bare in front of him.

Magnus barely notices the stream of prisoners pass by the open front to his cell as they return from dinner, far too invested in drawing out the delicious moans and gasps he’s been starved of hearing these past few months.

Alec has clearly missed him too, reacting to the lightest of touches with rapturous mewls and choked off whimpers of pleasure. By the time Magnus is buried inside him, groaning without care in exhilarated bliss, the hall is empty and the doors to every cell but Magnus’ own are closed, muted whispers the only sounds outside of those he and his husband are making.

Time stops and when Magnus fully comes back to himself, the lights are low and his head is nestled on Alec’s chest, his husband playing absentmindedly with his hair. Alec makes a displeased sound when Magnus shifts in preparation of rolling off him and Magnus smiles and stills himself. He rubs his nose in the fuzz of Alec’s chest hair, trying to slow down his breathing when he realizes he’s still inside his husband. He takes in a deep, calming breath and settles.

He murmurs Alec’s name, but Alec just shushes him gently.

“We’ll talk in the morning.”

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to everyone on the Malec discord that helped me decide to discard any hope of reality! This is the first smut I've ever posted, so be kind please. I also never plotted this many d/s undertone fics until I started reading alxnrlightwoods' works lol. I blame this on you in a roundabout sort of way. ;)
> 
> Finally, the story is marked as complete, but I may write a few additional ficlets in this AU. If I do, they'll be appended as a second chapter on this story. Let me know if you have a plot bunnies! 
> 
> ❤️Kudos make me smile, but comments make my day! ❤️


End file.
